Playing cards



March 4, 1958 L. SIMONS PLAYING CARDS Filed March 18, 1955 lNl ENTOR LAWRENCE SIMO/VS AGEN United States Patent PLAYING CARDS Lawrence Simous, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Phyllis G. Herman, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application March 18, 1955, Serial No. 495,167

'5 Claims. (Cl. 273-1521) This invention relates to playing cards having conventional suit and denominational designations. More specifically this invention contemplates novel playing cards having conventional suit and denominational designations which may be individually observed when in stacked relationship.

It is an object of this invention to avoid the necessity of fanning or spreading a plurality of playing cards in order to observe the suit and denominational designations of the cards.

A feature of this invention is the provision of round apertured cards which are similar from the back or in other words which have the apertures similarly disposed.

Another featureof this invention is the provision of means for readily allowing the removal of any one of a plurality of stacked playing cards without disturbing the rest of the cards in the stack.

Still another feature of this invention is the provision of playing cards, the positions of which may be interchanged in a stack without removal therefrom and the designations remaining readily viewable. .f For further comprehension of this invention and objects and features thereof, reference is 'made to thefollowing description and accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a playing card of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is the front view of a stack of thirteen playing cards of the present invention; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view through line 33 in Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 1 the circular card 1 is one card of a deck of cards having conventional suit and denominational designations. The principles of the present invention, however, are not restricted to the use of conventional suit and denominational designations as they are applicable to any type of designations. The card designations appear in a circular central section 14 and in two segments 15 and 16 which are contiguous With the section 14. The designations need not appear in section 14. In fact section 14 may have at the center thereof, a round hole for supporting the card 1. The section 14 is essentially separated from an outer tab section 17 by the apertures 18 through 23. The apertures 18 through 23 are separated from each other by the ribs 24 and by the designation segments 15 and 16. The ribs 24 are utilized to strengthen the card and any number thereof from 0 to 22 may be utilized. In the illustrative embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Fig. 1, four ribs 24 are utilized to strengthen the card 1 by connecting the sections 14 and 17. It 22 ribs 24 were utilized they would appear at approximately 14.62-degree intervals, dividing card 1 in 26 sectors including the two designation segments 15 and 16. The outer section 17 is also divided in 26 parts having 24 tabs 25 and tabs 26 and 27. The ribs 24 are each located along a diameter of the card which separates two of the tabs 25. The tabs 25 are all the same size and are somewhat smaller than the tabs 26 and 27. The large tabs 26 and 27 are opposite 2,825,567 Patented Mar. 4, 1958 the segments 15 and 16, respectively, and are utilized, as is hereinafter described, to remove the card 1 from a stack of similarly constructed cards.

With the card 1 divided into 26 equal sectors, as de- 1 scribed above, a maximum of 13 playing cards may be viewed when in stacked relationship. The card 1 is not restricted to such a construction but may be designed for viewing any number of cards. For example, if only 5 cards need to be viewed the card'is divided into 10 sectors. The smaller the number of sectors the larger would be the segments 15 and 16 and the larger the designations thereon. Since the maximum diameter of card 1 is generally restricted to allow for easy holding, it is not advisable to design the card 1 for viewing more cards than is necessary.

This invention is, of course, not restricted to any particular size of the card 1 or even to the relative dimensions from the outer periphery to the center of the card. Moreover the tabs 25 are unnecessary and the card 1 may simply be arcuate shaped between tabs 26 and 27. The tabs 26 and 27 need not even be arcua'te shaped as illustrated. Any shaped protrusion opposite the segments 15 and 16 is suflicient.

The card 1 is shown together with 12 other cards 2 through 13 in Fig. 2 as they would appear to the viewer. Card 1, which is the two of diamonds is the top card. The other cards 2-13 from top to bottom, are respectively as follows: four ofdiamonds; six of diamonds; jack of diamonds; king of diamonds; ace of diamonds; ten of clubs; ace of clubs; three of hearts; nine of hearts; queen of hearts; five of spades; and eight of spades.

The large tabs 26 and 27 of cards 1-13 are staggered, each opposite the respective designation segments 15 and 16 of'the cards 1-13 and with no-one being on top or covering another. For example, the large tab 26 of card 2, the four of diamonds, is opposite the segment 15 of card 2 and protrudes from beneath the tab 25 of card 1, and the tab 26 of card 3, the six of diamonds, pro= trudes from beneath the tabs 25 of cards 1 and 2, etc. At each of the 26 sectors of the stack one tab 26 protrudes. To arrange the cards so that the designations of all 13 cards 1-13 are readily viewable, the tabs 26 are staggered in the manner described above; one at each sector. A

The edge of the tabs 26 may be colored red or black in accordance with the suit designation. Cards 7, 8, 12, and 13, the clubs and spades, have black tabs 26 and 27 as indicated in Fig. 2 and the rest of the cards have red tabs 26 and 27. The colored tabs 26 and 27 make for a rapid approximate identification of the position of the card to be withdrawn from the stack.

The tabs 26 and 27 of cards 1-13 provide for withdrawing any one of cards 1-13 from the stack. For example, if card 3. the six of diamonds, is to be re moved from the stack, the tab 26, adjacent the designation segment 15, upon which the'six of diamonds designation appears may be grasped to withdraw card 3. The tabs 26 and 27 are therefore utilized to arrange the cards 1-13 so that all may be viewed when they are in a stack and also to remove any one of the cards 1-13 from the stack without disturbing the others.

The tabs 26 and 27 are also utilized to change the positions of the cards. For example, if the positions of the four of diamonds and the six of diamonds are to be interchanged, card 3, the six of diamonds, is rotated one sector counterclockwise and card 2, the four of diamonds, is rotated one sector clockwise. The tabs 26 and 27 are utilized to rotate the cards 2 and 3. Any two of the cards 1-13 may in this manner have their positions interchanged without removing either from the stack merely byrotating them. The cards to be interchanged, more- V and readily rotated.

over, need'not be adjacent to each other in the "stack. In conventionalr'ectangularcards, the cards must be removed from the fanned stack to be interchanged.

Anyvtwo of the cards 1 13 may be interchanged in 7 this manner because they may all be vieweid, whatever their respective positions from the front of'the stack to the back, as long asrthe segme'nts 'ls oriitabs 260i two or more cards do not coincide" If the cards 1-13 have a round'hole, not shown, at the center'of section peg inserted therethrough' 14, they may bes' upported by a Theembodiment described above is merely illustrative.

' Various modifications are possiblerwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the principles of this invention.

For examplefas described above, the'maxirnum nurnb'er of cards that may be viewed in a'stack withontffa'n'ning them out rn'a'y be varied; The apertures 18tlirough 23, mo'1'e0 ver, may be "transparent material instead of aper- V tures,ror the"eritire"card may be covered with atransparentrsheet'on' one'or both sides.

The cards1- 13 do not have to be bi-symmetrical. For tri-symmetry, for example, with the maximum number of cards to be I 7 viewed in a stack being seven, thereare three designation 1 areas, with the card being divided into 21 sectors instead of 14. The card can have four designation. areasfor be divided into'28 sectors, etcl The designations of each card would then be viewable in'thre'e, fourror'm'ore places,

respectively. The ,card, moreover may be shaped as a' e1y en instead of a circle, and ,the apertures 7 may similarly be polygonally shaped. WhatVI claim 'is: r

"1. A deck 'ofround playingfc'ard s, with each braid fround playing cards having a circular central area'gtwo designation'areas bordering'sai'd central area at opposite sides thereof, a circularrperiphe ral area contiguous with said designation areas andtorrni'ng with s'aidrcent'ralarea "symmetrical arcuate apertures between said designation 'are'as'to' allow for the simultaneous viewing of saidjdesigriation areas ofother of said cards when 'held jin' stacked relationship.

:2; A deck of r ound playin'g cards with each of said playing cards having ajcircular central'area, two designat ion areas contiguouswith sjaidcentralarea ahdloeated at opposite sides thereof, a circularperipheral area'co'ntiguous with said designation areas and forming withj'said central area two arcuate slots betweensaididesignation "areas, the length of each of said slotsbeing a predetermined integer multiple, of the width of said designation areas, and a tab contiguous with said peripheral adjacent each' of said designation'areas.

3. Circular playing cards *divided into' a number' o f sectors equal to twice the maximum number of said cards that are required Lobe simultaneously viewed in a s tack,

each of said cardshayin'g a designation areain'two' ofsaid sectors atropp'osite sides of said cards an aperture I in eachroffthe rest'of said sectors, strengthening ribs between somerofrsaidfapertures', a peripheral tab injeach sector, said tabs'that areinthe designation area being larger than the rest of said tabs. V

sectors 4. Circular playing cards in accordance with claim 3 wherein said larger'tabs iarenc'olored in accordance with the suitdesignations of the cards.- a

5'. A deck of circular'playing cards havin'g conventionalr V denomination and suit designations, each of said cards having a plurality of peripheral tabs, a circular strip area including suit and denomination designation sections p'o- 'sitionedrespectively adjacent said peripheral t'abs,fan'd 7 transparent'sections forrvie'wi'ng' said designation sections of others of said cards, each ofrsaid'ttran'sparent sections 1, having a radial width equal to the radialwidth iofeachi of said designation sections and an arcuatelength which is a predetermined 'in'tegerimu ltiple of the ilengthrof each of s'aidwdesig n a'tion' sections.

p 7 7 References Citediiin tlie file of this'patent UNITEDVVSTATESJPATENTS 155,752 .j Richardson' 7 ,5 "602,175 ,Smith L pr.y12,-i1s9s "993 581 Davidson 'May30g1911 1,049,681 Davidson; jfJaii. I 7; 19 13 1,527,059 Morgan et a .,-'Feb. ,l7, 1192 5' 2,460,563' f Zelvin -1 Feb. l,*' 194 9 area-t. 

